Battle Royale: The Twenty-Six
by Ian McShwiz
Summary: A class of 26 students is chosen to compete in The Program, where they must fight each other until only one is left. Don't forget to check out the poll(s).
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, sorry this is short, the next chapter is longer. Make sure to check out the polls I put up.**

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**1**

Katie Peterson (girl #10) was the third person on the small bus, only behind Spencer Bennett (boy #3) and Brandon Lowe (boy #9) who pushed their way to the front of the line and proceeded to the back of the bus. Katie selected the seat just behind the middle escape door on the right side. Lisa Allen (girl #2), the captain of the girls' basketball team came on next and sat down near the front half alone, her blonde hair pressed up against the back of the chair. The next on was the tall black Ricky Adkins (boy #1) and his equally muscular friends, Kurt Hartman (boy #8), Jacob Tyler (boy #12), and Ryan Walters (boy #13). They filled in the gap between the other boys and her.

"Hey." Kurt said to her as he took the seat directly behind her. She nodded her acknowledgement and turned back around, pretending to be busy with something on her iPod. They started talking about some football game or another as Ruth Campbell (girl #4) and Naomi Coleman (girl #5) took a seat behind the driver's seat. They were nice enough, but kind of crazy about their religion. They acted as if anyone who wasn't perfect went to hell, which was evident in their scowl at Nicholas Green (boy #7) as his scrawny frame boarded the bus and sat across from Lisa. He had long black hair and pierced ears, which was good enough reason for them to not like him. They didn't really talk to anyone besides themselves and sometimes Kelly Dennis (girl #6), who sat next to Lisa and behind Ruth. Her dark skin was naturally flawless and her short black hair remained unwaveringly straight above her slim body covered in a creased blouse and business-like black skirt. She could have been a model if she wasn't so obsessed with her career as president of the 10th grade.

Jacob whistled as Brittney Albert (girl #1) strutted down the aisle with her posse. She chose seats for them all next to the jocks, her redheaded self in front of Jacob and Maria Rodriguez (girl #11) next to her and across the aisle of Ryan, who she kept flirting with. Kristen Jenkins (girl #9) and Nicole Boyd (girl #3) sat in front of them and engaged in the day's gossip.

Javier Cruz (boy #6) sat behind Lisa and the seat next to him was filled with Collette Russo (girl #12). They were both exchange students that had entered into the school two weeks into the first semester. Javier was a shy boy who spent most of his time talking in broken English about soccer. Collette on the other hand used her time to model the newest and most expensive clothes and shoes to the rest of the class, and she never let them forget how rich she was. Her dark brown hair flowed down her pale face in gentle waves, and her dark green eyes seemed to stare into your soul.

John Banks (boy #2) and Martin Coleman (boy #5) took the seat behind Nick. They were hunting partners, and talked about to each other about bucks they had shot. John was really smart though, unlike Martin who struggled to pass each grade level. Kevin Byrd (boy #4) sat by Nick. Kevin wore neon skinny jeans and a white V-neck. He was the school's gay kid, and he certainly got recognized for it by Spencer and Brandon. Jonas Thurman (boy #11) and Owen Miller (boy #10) sat behind Martin and John. Owen was the other nerd boy besides John, and Jonas was the male version of Kelly. That is if she was an average looking white boy. But he was the vice president, and he helped her a lot with her campaign. Lindsay Hughes (girl #8) and Ivy Hines (girl #7) got on board and sat in front of Kristen and Nicole. They started discussing the lead male characters of some book they had read. Katie had never been much for reading. She preferred listening to Metallica and rock climbing. The bus was full, except for the seat next to Katie. Donna Yarber (girl #13) was the last to get on. She looked around the short bus walked up to Katie.

"Can I sit here please?" She mumbled. There was nowhere else to sit, Katie nodded and moved over to make room for the large girl. Donna was wearing a stained grey hoodie and jeans with a hole in the right knee and she smelled faintly of smoke and cats. Katie was the closest thing to a friend she had, and Katie did her best to be friendly to her.

The bus started up and Donna looked down and Katie put her ear buds in and turned on some Metallica. She stared out the window as they went to the colonial farm. Katie hadn't really wanted to go, but it got her out of geometry so she figured it would be worth it. She rested her head against the window and felt her eyes droop. Why was she suddenly so tired? She looked over at Donna and noticed that she was asleep. What was going on? Her eyes closed and they didn't open for a while.

* * *

Jonas Thurman woke up in a cold dark room.

"Where are we?" He heard a scared female voice ask.

"What's going on!?" said an angry male voice somewhere in front of him. Then he realized that he was on a metal chair. He tried to stand up but he was handcuffed to it, and it seemed to be bolted to the floor somehow. The room got louder as more and more people woke up.

"Quiet down!" said the stern voice of a man. The room silenced. Who was he? The lights came on and they saw a clean-shaven broad shouldered man with a crew cut. The chairs were in two groups facing the front, the boys on the right, the girls on the left.

"Where the hell are we?"

"What is this?"

"Who are you?"

The man sat in a chair in front of the room. The windows were boarded up so that the only light was the light coming from the florescent lights hanging above them.

"Quiet!" He roared. "All will be explained shortly."

Then three soldiers walked in carrying big guns. The room fell silent and then their teacher, Mrs. Daphne walked in. She was paler than usual and she tripped while coming in. What was going on?

"Hello students." She said shakily. "Congratulations! Your class has the honor of being the class selected to participate in this year's Program."

Some students gasped, and the rest began to murmur. The Program? But that was a myth… wasn't it?

"Silence!" The man yelled. The class became quiet again.

"Thank you, Mr. Randolph. Now, as I was saying, you have been selected for this year's Program. Very soon, you will be released into the playing area. You will each be given a pack that contains food, water, a compass, a map, a flashlight, and a randomly selected… weapon."

The class once again broke into murmuring but silenced as the man opened his mouth.

"You will use this weapon to kill each of your classmates until only one remains."

"What if we don't want to?" yelled Spencer Bennett in the front row.

"If no one is killed within any consecutive twenty-four hour period then everyone's collar will explode." She said. Jonas, along with the rest of the class felt their necks, and sure enough there was a metal band around it. A girl screamed but Mrs. Daphne kept on talking. "The collar on your neck will also explode if you try to remove it, leave the boundaries of the playing area, or enter a restricted area. Restricted areas and their activation times will be announced at noon and midnight, along with a list of the dead. The radio tower, which we are in currently, and the rest of Section D1, will become a danger zone half an hour after the last person leaves it. Remember, this is a great honor and you should honor your country by playing your hardest. Remember, only one can win. Now Mr. Rudolph will call you out by name and let you enter the playing area in two minute intervals."

"Thank you Mrs. Daphne, that was excellent. Now, time to begin. Good luck to you all!" He said almost cheerfully. A soldier brought in a cart with twenty-six black duffel bags.

"Richard Adkins!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for reading this! Please check out the polls I put up.**

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**2**

Ricky Adams clutched his bag and ran straight out the door, causing him to slip on the snow. Snow? It hadn't been snowy back at the school. Where was he? He got back up and ran past a few houses until he reached the diner. He decided that it was as good a place to hide as any, so he lept over the counter and opened his pack. A flashlight, a map, a compass, loaves of bread, packaged food, bottles of water. Where was his weapon? He dumped the contents of his bag out onto the tiled floor and dug through the pile. Where was it? He pushed a box of crackers and sent something sliding under the counter. He put his arm under and felt around until he found it. A paperclip. He was silent with shock for the first five seconds then angry the next. What kind of weapon was this? How could he protect himself with this? He threw it into the kitchen and began to shove everything back into the bag. He looked at his watch. The third person was about to be released.

* * *

Nicole Boyd left the building slowly, looking around for Brittney. She walked cautiously towards a neighborhood area and waited until she had the green paneled wall of a house to her back to check her bag. Lying near the top was a black cylinder with a bright, neon orange label.

Pepper Spray.

Not lethal, but good for defense. She held it in her hand as she meandered through the houses. Snow started to fall and she made her way to the porch of a house. It was bearably cold out, but the snow already on the ground started soaking through her sneakers so she made her way to the porch of a house. She wondered who had lived here before this. There was a "Home Sweet Home" sign above the door.

The _open_ door.

Nicole slowly pushed the door open and almost screamed when she saw him lying there. It was that really smart kid from class. John, she thought. He was pinned to the ground with a short arrow. Someone was already dead. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. She ran away from the house and made it across the street. She had expected some people to play, but not this soon.

There was a click and she saw Brittney emerge from the house next to her.

"Oh! Thank God it's just you, I thought you were Spencer." Nicole said, taking in a deep breath.

"You found me!" Brittney said cheerfully. Nicole climbed the steps to greet her friend.

"Oh my God, this is so crazy. I didn't know whether you were dead or not and… Oh my God."

"I've been waiting here hoping that you and would find me. I'm just so happy that you found me."

"I saw John, in that house over there." Nicole said pointing to the house. "He was dead. Someone's playing. We need to…"

But she stopped short, because at that moment she noticed that Brittney was holding a crossbow.

"You don't understand… he had a knife." Brittney began, but it was too late, Nicole was already leaving. She was about to jump off the porch when she felt the crossbow pressed against the back of her head.

"Don't leave."

"Brittney… you killed him…"

"Don't you leave me!" she screamed. Nicole swung her arm around and grabbed ahold of the crossbow, shoving it out of her hands until it skittered across the porch. Brittney shoved Nicole down the steps and pulled out a knife, probably John's, and pinned down Nicole by the neck with her free hand. The knife hand was being held back by Nicole's hand, but Brittney was stronger, and the knife was getting closer. Then Brittney was blinded as Nicole sprayed her with the pepper spray. Brittney recoiled in pain, giving Nicole time to slip out from her mass. She was just standing up when the knife slammed into her calf and she fell onto some shrubbery. She yanked it out and screamed in agony. She was bleeding everywhere, but she tried to hop away on her good leg. Brittney was crawling back to the porch in surrender, so Nicole stopped hopping and examined her leg. There was blood everywhere. She threw up. When she went to look at her leg again, her view was blocked by a crossbow, pointing right between her eyes.

**Boy #2, John Banks- Eliminated**

**Girl#3, Nicole Boyd- Eliminated**

**24 Students Remaining**

* * *

Javier Cruz was chasing the sun down. It was almost night and he had to get to the mansion on the map before anyone else did. He figured he could just hide comfortably in the mansion and wait it out for a while. He hadn't seen anyone else so far, but he had seen someone's footprints near the clothing store. He tried not to think of who it was, so he concentrated on only stepping on rocks as to not leave a trail in the thin layer of snow. He was light on his feet due to the years of soccer he had done in both El Salvador and in the U.S. The sun's last rays went down and Javier found himself in a small wooden shack next to a lake. He didn't want to travel at night, so he curled up in the corner and waited for the midnight announcement.

* * *

Lindsey Hughes had barely left the front door when a bright light shone in her face. She screamed when someone put their hand over her mouth. She stepped on their foot repeatedly until:

"Shut up, it's me Lindsey." Said the familiar voice of her best friend, Ivy Hines.

"Oh, sorry, I just…"

"It's fine, we need to get out of here now."

"Yeah. Where to?"

"This way!" Ivy said, leading the way to the shabbier looking houses.

* * *

Donna Yarber was the last to be released out into the game. It was about nine at night, pitch black, and freezing. Luckily she had her grey hoodie on. But there were still many other problems. Anyone could be waiting in the shadows of the moonlight to take her out. Nicole, Brittney, Maria, Brandon, the rest of her class. She wasn't exactly close to anyone in the class, and she would be an easy target, considering she was overweight and couldn't run for very long. Hopefully she got a good weapon.

She sat down on the steps of the radio station and opened her bag.

She dug through it, using the flashlight to see, to find that her weapon appeared to be a PSP. Only there weren't buttons on it, just a screen showing a green dot in the middle, and way off to the top right was a red dot. The red dot moved closer to her green dot for a second, then went off of the screen. She dug through the bag more and found the manual, which basically said it was a locator device, which meant that the red dot was one of her classmates. She held it in one hand, her flashlight in the other and ran down the road towards the bigger houses. If she was going to die she might as well do it in comfort. She went up to the second house on the right (the first house would seem too obvious) and locked the door behind her.

* * *

Nicholas Green was in the bathtub of someone's old house, clutching his knees and crying. Why him? Why was it always him? He took in a deep breath, trying to get himself together. There was a tiny slit for a window above the sink that let in the moonlight. Thankfully he had gotten out before it was night. Some of the others wouldn't be so lucky. They were called out by last name, alternating boy-girl, so that meant that Ivy would have gotten out after him. He hoped that she was okay, but at the same time, he didn't. One less to fight later on. He shook his head and tried to ignore that thought. Only three hours into this and he was already wishing people were dead. He didn't want to be like that. He brushed his black bangs out of his face and looked at the window, wondering how long it was until the first announcement.

* * *

Owen Miller, the captain of the math team, was woken up at midnight by the sound of Mr. Randolph's voice echoing through the night air. He shook off the snow that had collected on his black hair in the brief time he had been sleeping, pushed his glasses up more, and listened to the man's deep, yet cheerful voice.

"Hello, my little warriors! You've been very lazy so far. Only two dead so far. Boy #2, John Banks, and Girl #3, Nicole Boyd. I expect you guys to make up for the lost time once you're all rested and ready to go tomorrow. Oh, and Section F6 will become off limits at 4 am, and Section A4 at 7am. That's all I have for you right now, so good luck, and have fun!"

He may have stopped speaking, but his voice resonated in Owen's mind. He had been waiting for John to join him.

_John was dead. _He wanted to cry. _John, his friend John, was dead. _He wanted to throw up. _Smart, funny, friendly John was dead. _He wanted to scream. _Who did it? _He started shaking. _If they killed John then they could kill him. _Then sweating._ They would kill him. _He started hyperventilating. _Next. _He needed air._ Unless. _He needed to think._ Unless he killed them first._

He needed revenge.

And with that thought, the sleep deprived boy ran deeper into the woods with GP 35, ready to win.

* * *

Maria Rodriguez was huddled against Ryan Walters. The sun was beginning to come out, bringing with it the warmth of the day. She looked up through the treetops to see that snow was no longer falling, and all the clouds of last night were gone. She looked up at her sleeping boyfriend. She had been dating him for about a year and loved everything about him. His light brown hair, his muscular build, his hazel eyes hiding underneath his eyelids. Perfect in every way. Although, as far as a human pillow goes, he had some work to do. She sat up, accidentally waking him up in the process.

"Hey." He said in his drowsy deep voice.

"Hey." She said back. They held each other's gaze for a long time before either of them moved. _Would that be their last moment like that?_ She wondered. She kissed him and he held her and kissed back.

_Would that be their last kiss?_

"Want some breakfast?" he asked her, reaching for their bags. She nodded and he fished out some jerky and a loaf of bread. She looked over at where their weapons lay. For him, an axe, for her, and AK-47. They got such good weapons for people who didn't need to use them. Which meant that the people who were playing didn't have them either. She took a piece of jerky from Ryan and began to gnaw on it. Would this be their last meal?

"Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"What if… what if one of us…"

"Don't worry about that. We're safe here."

"But for how long? How long until this becomes a danger zone, or until someone finds us?"

"I don't know, but I know that I won't let you get hurt."

"But… Even if we make it to the end… Only one of us can…"

"That will be you. Once we are the last two I'll make sure of that."

"You're going to kill yourself?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about that now. That won't be…"

"No."

"What?"

"No. I won't let you kill yourself for me. You're strong, and fast. You can win this!"

"I've already won. I've found you."

"But I will never win if you aren't with me." she countered. There was a long silence before Ryan spoke.

"Maybe we could win together?"

"That's impossible, only one can win." Maria replied.

"No, we can't win their way, but we can win our way. If we stop playing we both loose. But we can win together if we remove ourselves from the program completely"

"What do you mean?" she asked. But she already knew the answer, and she was afraid of it. Not because it meant dying. But it meant facing the unknown, the unknown of whether she would ever see Ryan again. The unknown of whether she would ever be able to feel his fingers in hers again, if she would ever smell the sweet forest smell that always seemed to cling to him, or if she would ever run her fingers through his sandy brown hair again. A tear began forming in her eye. "I understand. We'll do it together. I just don't want to lose you Ryan."

"And I don't want to lose you. That's why we have to do this. There's no way we can live together in this life. I want to be with you forever Maria. I love you. We can be strong enough to do this together."

They stared into each other's tear stained eyes for a few moments, savoring the last few moments they knew they had together. A tear rolled down Maria's cheek and Ryan brushed it away with his finger and softly kissed her nose.

"Ok" she whispered.

"Section F6 becomes a danger Zone in a few minutes. It's not too far away."

"Okay lets go." Maria pulled out of the embrace with a fierce determination glinting in her eyes.

"We should throw our weapons in the lake so no one else can use them." Ryan suggested.

"Agreed." She replied, picking up his axe and chucking it far into the lakes depths. He did the same with her big gun. Then they walked towards Section F6 together, ready to win.

**Boy #13, Ryan Walters- Eliminated**

**Girl #11, Maria Rodriguez- Eliminated**

**22 Students Remaining**

* * *

Jacob Tyler was walking around some old trailer homes. He had spent the entire night trying to find Kristin Jenkins, and for some reason he wasn't tired at all. He had marked off the sections on the map where he had checked, this was his tenth. But she hadn't been named in the announcement, so that meant that she was alive at least. He was tempted to call out her name, but that would give away his position to some of his more eager classmates. He had been lucky and not seen anyone, except for the fat girl for a brief second when she left the radio station. He saw no reason to kill her with his sniper rifle. Not yet anyways. He had to focus on finding Kristen. Maybe she was one of the unlucky ones who had gotten a piece of lint as a weapon. Then again, maybe she had a cannon. Either way, he had to find her. She was a small girl with ashy-blonde hair and the ferocity of a tiger. Still, her ferocity couldn't protect her from a bullet.

He slowly opened the door to one of the homes and checked inside. He looked at the dingy floor of the living room, covered in miscellaneous toys. What had happened to the people who had lived here? The bedroom had only a bed a crib, and a mirror in it. He checked the bathroom and the kitchen, empty also, except for some corn chips which he stowed in his bag.

He went back outside when all of a sudden a bang sounded and he felt something slam into his arm. He fell against the door, closing it shut and another bullet hit right where his chest had been. He reached up to grab the doorknob and yanked it open and crawled inside as two more bullets hit the house. Who was shooting at him? Spencer? Brandon? He peeked out the window and saw the person he least expected.

Owen Miller!? Nerdy, math geek, tech-club Owen Miller!? Why was he playing? He kept shooting at the house with a hand gun of some sort, focusing on the door.

_Click. Click. Click._

He had run out of ammo, but he kept pulling the trigger. Jacob slowly walked out of the house.

"Hey… Owen, you don't have to…"

"Shut up! You did it!"

"Did wha…"

"I said SHUT UP! Evil! You must pay!" he screamed, still pulling the trigger. Jacob looked at the Owen's slit-eyes, completely glazed over." Jacob unslung the sniper rifle from his shoulder and aimed it at Owen. Could he really do this? Owen was kind of weird and all but, could he really kill him?

"DIE!" Owen screamed through clenched teeth, tears and snot running down his face, hands shaking and pulling the trigger to no use. He had lost it. Jacob could put him out of his misery. He aimed the sniper rifle, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.

Owen stopped pulling the trigger.

**Boy #10, Owen Miller- Eliminated**

**21 Students Remaining**

* * *

Kevin Byrd was walking into a bar, with Section A4 to his back. He figured that he could hide here for a while and avoid most of the players. After all, they were all underage and shouldn't be drinking, but he knew that a few did, but they could probably find all the booze they needed at the store or in someone's house. He took a seat at the counter and took a swig of his water. His weapon: a ball of yarn. Just his luck. He took another swig and the bell above the door rang. He turned around to see Spencer Bennett and Brandon Lowe enter the bar.

"Hey look, it's our little fag friend." Spencer said. Kevin bolted to the door, grabbed the handle, and was yanked back by Spencer. Spencer threw him to the ground and Brandon held him down with his foot.

"What's the matter, don't you want to catch up with your old friends?" Brandon asked.

"Go to Hell!"

"Now that's no way to greet your buddies from class, now is it?"

"You're right Brandon. Somebody ought to teach him a lesson." Spencer said. Spencer took out his Korth Combat revolver and put a bullet in Kevin's leg. He screamed as the pain shot through his body. Spencer kicked his face into the ground and Kevin screamed even more.

"What weapon did you get faggy?" Spencer asked, going towards Kevin's bag and taking out the ball of yarn.

"You a cat now?" Brandon chuckled, keeping his foot firmly on Kevin's back. Spencer looped the string around Kevin's chin and pulled up on it, painfully choking Kevin.

"St…st…ahhhrrrgg!"

"We're just starting kiddo." Spencer said smiling.

"We're wasting time though…" Brandon said, with a nervous tone in his voice. Spencer didn't hear that though, as he was busy shooting Kevin Byrd. After he died, Brandon sat down and looked at the grenades in his backpack. What had he done…

"So," Spencer said, putting a cigarette in his mouth, "who next?"

**Boy #4, Kevin Byrd- Eliminated**

**20 Students Remaining**

* * *

Kurt Hartman straddled a branch of the tall pine tree that stood just behind the old brick building that was the school. The building looked as if it had been abandoned a while ago; moss crept up it's dirty brick walls and several of the windows were broken or boarded up. He had been up in the tree since the Program had started. He doubted that anyone would be able to reach him up here. He was extremely fast, and if it came to a chase he could easily outrun any of his classmates, (with the exception of maybe Lisa Allen, who was the fastest girl in the school by far) so he wasn't worried about that aspect. He was probably wouldn't be hiding up in the tree at all if not for the soup ladle that he had been given as a weapon. But, he had been given probably the most useless weapon ever so in the tree he would stay. Unless Section D5 became a danger zone. He sighed and started eating a piece of jerky. Hopefully that wouldn't happen.

He glanced down to in front of the school and just saw Kelly Dennis disappear through the front doors. The class president. He could only imagine what this must be like for her, having to kill all of the people who adored her so much. Her vote in had pretty much been unanimous, with Brandon Lowe and Spencer Bennett being the only exceptions.

A few minutes later he saw Brittney Albert strutting down the weed cracked sidewalk that led up to the school's front doors. She held a crossbow in her hand and he could see something in sticking out of the waist line of her skirt. What had she been up to? She opened the door and he lost sight of her. This wasn't going to end well. He sighed again and stared up at the sun. The next announcement should be coming on soon.

* * *

Ruth Campbell and Naomi Coleman were hiding in the bigger of the two history classrooms on the second floor of the school building. The floors were a bare wood, the carpet appeared to have been removed and now a dozen or so desks were scattered throughout the room. A tattered map of the world remained on the brick wall and a few push-pins remained in some of America's capitals. The girls were across from the door behind the teacher's desk. They had agreed that they weren't going to fight anyone. The shotgun and the steak knife lay on an empty shelf. Naomi put her curly brown hair into a pony tail and chewed on a piece of gum she had in her pocket. She was much more relaxed than Ruth who kept glancing at the door while she ate some bread.

The announcement should come on soon. Ruth looked down at her watch and saw that it was only twelve more minutes until twelve. She hoped that the school wouldn't become a danger zone and continued eating.

Then they heard footsteps. Quick and light ones, echoing through the halls. They dove behind the desk and the door to the room opened. They didn't dare breathe. Naomi's eyes suddenly opened wide in horror.

Their weapons still remained on the shelf where they had left them. Whoever in the room would surely see them and….

"Hello? Is anyone in here?" said a familiar voice.

"Kelly?" Ruth asked as she peered out from behind the desk.

"Oh my gosh! Ruth, Naomi, you're alright!"

"Kelly! Oh, I'm so glad you found us!" Ruth said.

"Guys, this isn't a safe place to be. I'm sure plenty of people are going to try and hide here. We should go."

"Yeah," Naomi said picking up their bags. "where should we go?"

"We can probably hide safely in the forest for a while." Kelly said. They followed her out into the hall. She had a pipe thing slung over her shoulder. She noticed them staring at it and quickly answered their unspoken questions.

"It's a pipe for blow darts." She said, pointing to the darts on her belt. "Only for emergency though. I'm not going to play."

They walked a bit more, when Brittney revealed herself from behind a pile of boxes.

"Oh, Brittney, I…" Kelly began, but she trailed off as she noticed the blood on her hand that was loading the crossbow. An arrow shot at Kelly's shoulder but she dove out of the way and watched it careen into Naomi's instead. She let out a scream and the trio ran back down the hall. Unfortunately Brittney was faster than them. She took out a knife and swung it up between them. Kelly tripped into a classroom and Naomi and Ruth jumped inside of a janitor's closet and slammed the door shut. Brittney came at Kelly, so Kelly kicked the door onto her wrist. Her hand grasped at the handle madly, as Brittney slammed herself into the door. Kelly kept her feet pushed up against it, but she had very little grip. She slammed again and most of her forearm was through. Kelly reached to her right and grabbed the blow dart pipe, which had fallen off in her entrance to the room, and swung it as hard as she could at Brittney's hand. Keeping her feet pressed against the door she swung again, and again, until Brittney removed her hand from the classroom. Kelly closed the door and shoved a bookshelf in front of it with some unknown strength.

She scanned the room. There was no way out. Except through the broken window, but that was out of the question. She was in the second story. Unless…

There was a tall pine tree about seven feet away from the building. But she couldn't possibly jump that far, could she? Her decision was made for her as the bookcase fell over and she found herself freefalling. For what seemed like an eternity she was flying. Then, the eternity ended as she smacked into a pine branch. She grasped at it but slipped and managed to grab the next branch down. Kelly dropped herself down another branch and made her way to the trunk. She looked up at Brittney's scowling face. She let out a scream of rage and threw the bookshelf out the window.

Kelly let out a breath of relief. She was about to make her way down when a pinecone hit her head. She looked up and saw Kurt Hartman staring at her with disbelief about ten feet above her. There was a tense moment of silence as the two sized each other up, wondering if the one was going to attempt to attack the other. Finally, Kurt let out a laugh.

"You're crazy!" He said loudly. Kelly just stared at him and then proceeded to make her way down the tree. She hit the ground and was joined a few seconds later by Kurt.

"You're a mess." He said. She was. Her blouse was torn, there was sap and pine needles in her hair and her pencil skirt had ripped a bit near the hem. She combed through her hair with her hands and stared at the now crumpled bookshelf. She turned away and a glint caught her eye. She moved a few math books and found her pipe. It must have been caught in the bookshelf when it was thrown out. She picked it up and looked at Kurt.

"I would get out of here if I were you. I don't want to be around when she comes down."

"Yeah…" she replied and walked aimlessly into the forest behind the school. She looked at her watch. Three minutes until noon.

* * *

Naomi and Ruth had shoved a chair in front of the door to the janitor's closet that they were hiding in. They heard Brittney screaming, meaning that she probably hadn't killed Kelly. There was no way out, except for a tiny slit of a window above an empty shelf. Ruth and her tiny frame might be able to squeeze through it, but Naomi was rather larger and even if the arrow wasn't sticking out of her shoulder she wouldn't be able to make it out.

"You should go." Naomi said, gesturing to the window.

"I'm not leaving you."

"Well you should. You can go find Kelly and make it through this thing."

"No, I won't let you die alone."

"Ruth, I was going to die one way or another."

"So was I. I'd rather die with you than die later alone."

"Ruth…"

"No, I'm staying and there's no point in trying to talk me out of it."

"Ok." Naomi was surprised and touched. Her friend was usually scared and shy. Now she was willing to die for her. Literally.

They hugged and started praying.

The door burst open.

An arrow hit each of them directly, and they fell to the ground, still in each other's arms.

**Girl #4, Ruth Campbell-Eliminated**

**Girl #5, Naomi Coleman-Eliminated**

**18 Students Remaining**


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry this took so long to put up, my computer decided to break down.**

**Anyways, Enjoy!**

* * *

**3**

"Hello my little warriors! My, you have been busy. Among the dead are Boy #4, Kevin Byrd, Boy #10, Owen Miller, Girl #4, Ruth Campbell, Girl #5, Naomi Coleman, and Girl #11, Maria Rodriguez. Keep up the good work! And Section C6 will activate at 4 pm, Section A1 will activate at 8pm, and Section D7 activates at midnight."

Collette Russo was going through the clothing store's selection of skirts when the announcement came on. Six more dead. She hadn't been particularly close to any of them, but it was a shame that Ryan Walters was dead. He had such a pretty face. Not to mention he had a masculine body, broad shoulders, and perfectly white teeth. She considered him to be the only boy in the class even remotely suitable for her. But for some reason he had chosen to date that poor, ugly Maria Ramirez. She had the jawline of a man and hardly wore any designer brands. At least she was dead now.

Collette pulled a short, white, ruffled skirt off of the rack. This would have to do. She pulled off her jeans and pulled the skirt on. Time to find a top.

Martin Coleman stared out the window of the house he was staying in. He held his pipe firmly in his hand as he kept watch. He hadn't seen anyone since this had started luckily. On the other hand, John, Owen, and Naomi were dead. His two best friends and his cousin. This thing was crazy. He had hardly ever talked to Naomi, even though they were cousins. Maybe he should have. But John and Owen? They had been friends since kindergarten. They didn't even care that he was so much stupider than they were. It had always been the three of them. But now… they were gone.

The sound of shattering glass disturbed his thoughts of them. He readied his pipe and walked down the hallway into the kitchen. He looked out the window and saw Jonas Thurman throwing a jar against the ground. Several shirt buttons flooded out onto the concrete pathway leading up to the porch. Was that his weapon? Martin felt a little better about the metal pipe he had been given. He didn't think that Jonas would try to attack him, but he didn't want to go outside and say hi to him either. Not because he didn't trust him, but because he was making a lot of noise, and was probably attracting the attention of some of his classmates. Martin may not have been smart, but if he did know about one thing, it was hunting, and right now Jonas was an easy target for some of the better armed predators.

Martin grabbed his bag and slipped out the back door and into the garden. He used some dying ivy as a foothold and hopped up over the fence. He could still faintly hear Jonas kicking the smashed jar around. He half wished that he would have the sense to stop.

But he half didn't.

Jonas Thurman was completely and utterly pissed that he had gotten such a pathetic weapon. A jar full of buttons? _Really_?

He sat down on the steps of the porch. He couldn't believe it. He may have had a chance of winning if he had been given something useable, but now, all hopes of being the last person diminished.

Suddenly, he had an idea. Maybe he could team up with someone with a better weapon, and then take them out in their sleep! Yes, that might work. But he needed the right person. Someone who was too loyal for their own good, and physically weak. He took out the list of names from his bag and crossed off the ones from the previous announcement. Eighteen left. He scanned across the list. Martin, Kelly, Nicholas, Kate, and maybe Donna.

No, not Donna, she would slow him down too much.

Martin hunted and if he lost it, or found out his intentions, he could shoot Jonas easily.

He decided to focus on finding the other three he had thought of.

Wait, Nicholas was always paranoid, and probably wouldn't trust him. Make that two.

Nicholas Green cautiously left the bathroom that he had been hiding in for the entirety of the Program so far. He wouldn't be leaving at all if the zone that he was hiding in wasn't going to activate in three hours. It was 1:14 according to his watch. Apparently they were still in the same time zone as the school, or someone had adjusted it for him.

He stood in front of the door. Time to go out and find a new place to hide. He stared down at his bag. He hadn't even checked it yet to see what weapon he had been given. Knowing his luck, it was probably a spoon or something like that. It didn't even seem worth looking into. But, his curiosity got the best of him and he unzipped his bag. Inside

was a Steyr TMP automatic pistol.

He could win this thing.

Brandon and Spencer were walking down the street, looking for someone to attack. They almost didn't see her, but topless, across the street was Collette Russo. They stared in awe before she pulled on a slim fitting green t-shirt that matched her eyes.

"Dude…" Brandon said shocked at what he had just seen.

"We could have some fun with this. Come on!" Spencer said, running across the street, revolver in hand.

She didn't see them until they were already in the store. She stared at his revolver silently.

"Don't move!" Spencer yelled grinning like a maniac. She didn't.

"Now, take it off! All of it!"

She couldn't believe this. Of all the times to be a pervert he chose now? She sighed and began to slip off her top. The two of them gawked as she threw it to the ground. Idiots. She dropped her ring and bent down to get it, revealing just how short her new skirt was. She could feel their filthy eyes gazing at her. She picked up her ring along with something else.

Her Luger pistol. She aimed it at Spencer's chest and pulled the trigger. It shot the hand that held the gun. She hadn't realized that it would have such a kickback. But it worked. The boy screamed and reeled back in pain. In one motion she swept up his gun, her bag, and her shirt and ran out the door barefoot. She hadn't been able to pick out shoes yet. She ran until she ended up in a diner. She ran back into the kitchen and rubbed her aching feet. That had been too close. At least it had been worth it. She examined her new gun and hoped that she would be able to test it out on those perverts soon.

Lisa Allen walked around the outside of the mansion. She had stumbled onto it by pure accident, but it looked untouched. It's pristine white walls matched the piles of melting snow left on it's emerald lawn. It was getting cold though. The sun that had shone in the morning was now gone, replaced by a blanket of grey clouds. She was thankful that her basketball warm-up suit was actually warm. She walked up to the front door and pushed it open.

The floor was covered in a mosaic of white and black marble slabs and there was a grand piano sitting in the right corner. In the left corner was a staircase that must have led up to the bedrooms. She climbed up them and went into the first bedroom she came across. The bed had a big velvet blanket across it, and there was a fireplace in the corner. She was tempted to use it, but she knew that the smoke would attract her classmates.

She wasn't really friends with anyone in the class. In fact, she wasn't friends with anyone in the school. She just had a hard time being friendly with them. Whenever she was in a conversation, her brutally competitive side took over. She didn't date either. She considered herself average looking: straight blonde hair, brown eyes, glasses, a decent frame. She hoped that this would make things easier when it came time to… but she really didn't want to actually hurt any of them. Well maybe punch Brittney in the face for calling her a freak, but not kill them. She didn't want to use the machete that she had been given as a weapon, but maybe she would have to.

She pushed all of that aside though as she locked the door to the room and flopped onto the gigantic bed. She hadn't slept all night.

Javier Cruz sat in the study of the mansion, looking over the map, planning where he would go if this section became activated. He looked over at his dagger lying on a pile of books. He had decided early on that he would play defensively, attacking only if he was attacked. He knew how to play defense. That was his position on the field after all. Right defender.

Javier realized that if Section E6 was activated then he would be trapped in this corner, but he figured that he could run fast enough to get out if it was called. He yawned. He hadn't slept this whole time. He was too concerned about people finding out where he was and beating him. His soccer team was undefeated, and he wasn't about to end that record.

He threw the map back in his bag and headed down to the kitchen. He had already searched the cabinets, and found that they had been emptied. What he had found was dishes, which meant he didn't have to eat his bottled soup from the bottle. He took down a bowl and poured in the creamy yellow liquid. Sadly the oven didn't work so he would be eating it cold. He found a spoon in one of the drawers and walked out to the living room, where he sat on the piano and ate. He stared out the front window. Snow was beginning to fall again. It was only about four, but he could feel it getting colder and colder. Then he realized.

Had he even locked the front door?

He went over to check. Nope. Unlocked. He swore at his stupidity. This kind of carelessness could cost him the game. He could have sworn that he'd locked it. At least no one had gotten in. Unless…. He scrutinized the marble floor carefully until his eyes crossed over the thing that he had feared the most. A smudge of dirt, in the shape of the toe of a shoe. It pointed to the sitting room. He ran as silently as he could into the kitchen to retrieve his stuff. It was time to leave. He swung his bag over his shoulder and held his dagger in front of him. Javier was standing in front of the piano, ready to leave, when he noticed something was off. He looked at it for a second. What was it? Oh well, it wasn't important, he turned to go to the door and put grabbed the handle.

_Oh my God!_ He thought. _The soup was gone._

Then bullets slammed into his back and he fell against the door.

**Boy #6, Javier Cruz- Eliminated**

**17 Students Remaining**

Lisa heard the gunshots and sprung off the bed. She grabbed her bag and machete and slowly edged out of the room. She peered over the railing and saw Nicholas Green standing over the now mangled body of Javier Cruz. Oh my God! She knew people were playing, but it hadn't really hit her how real it was until now. Javier was dead. Oh my God!

A bullet shot past her and she dove to the ground. She swore and ran down the hallway. She hadn't realized that he had seen her. She ran until she reached the bedroom and she slammed the door shut. She locked it and ran towards the bathroom. Bullets shredded the door as she ran out of the bathroom and into the adjacent bedroom. She ran back into the hallway and passed the shot down door. Lisa jumped the entire flight of stairs as Nicholas ran to the top landing. He shot at her and she managed to push Javier out of the way and run out. Her feet pounded against the snow covered ground and she ran her way into the forest. Nicholas kept shooting from the balcony but she was already out of range. She didn't stop running.

Ivy and Lindsey were walking down the alleyway between the liquor store and the real estate firm. They had left the shabbier house that they had hid in the previous night after they heard gunshots near where they were. They had taken turns keeping watch out the front window of the run down trailer. Not that they could have defended themselves very well. Ivy had been given a screwdriver, and for Lindsey, a Swiss army knife.

Now they were wandering throughout the main street, looking for someone they could trust. Kelly probably. Maybe Kate too. Their names hadn't been called out yet so hopefully they could team up for a while. They spotted a music store across the street. Kate could be in there, finding some Metallica to listen to. They agreed to go there and check.

The store was empty, apart from the few CDs that remained on the shelves. Lindsey picked up one and saw that it was by some country singer.

"Let's go." She said, putting it back. Ivy nodded and they walked out. They were about halfway down the street when they heard gunshots. They immediately took shelter behind a sedan. Ivy peeked up through the window and saw Nicholas Green firing at an SUV about ten feet from where they were. Wait, there were two people behind it. Boys? She couldn't tell, she had bad eyes.

"Spencer and Brandon." Lindsey said, peering up through the window next to her.

"We need to get out of here."

"Yeah. Where should we…"

She didn't finish her sentence, for at that moment, a grenade was thrown at Nicholas. It exploded at his feet and broke the glass of the sedan. The girls fell over from the blast and then took off running. They didn't stop until they were in an auto shop far up the road. They could see the radio station from where they were.

**Boy #7, Nicholas Green- Eliminated**

**16 Students Remaining**

"That was WAY too close!" Lindsey said.

"No kidding. We should stay out of the town if we can."

"Yeah, most of the people who are playing are probably just hiding in those stores." Ivy nodded and noticed how she had referred to them as people. Then she noticed Lindsey's leg.

"Oh my God! Lindsey, your leg!" she screamed. Lindsey looked down and saw a shard of glass, about the size of a pairs of scissors, sticking out of her thigh. She stared at it, eyes and mouth wide open. Ivy was speechless. Then Lindsey spoke up.

"We need to pull it out."

"I thought you weren't supposed to…"

"Yeah, in normal circumstances you leave it for the doctors, but there aren't any doctors here, and I say take it out."

"But…"

"Do it! Look Ivy, I've take a first aid class before, and I might be fine if we bandage it up tight."

"Might!?"

"Ivy!"

"Okay, fine! Lay down."

Lindsey did. She took off her sweatshirt and bit down hard on it. Ivy wrapped her own sweatshirt around the shard. She was thankful that Lindsey was wearing a dress, and that she didn't have to rip any denim to get it out. Then she pulled with all of her might and it came out. She looked at Lindsey, but her eyes were closed. Tears ran down her face and she didn't move. She checked her heartbeat and it was still beating. Lindsey must have passed out from pain she concluded. Then she noticed the large amount of blood spilling out of her friend's leg. She swore and started tying it up with the gauze she had found in their bags. It took her a while, and all of their gauze, but eventually the leg had stopped bleeding. She sighed and looked at her best friend. She was slightly paler, but still breathing. She dragged Lindsey into the waiting room portion of the shop and moved furniture in front of the doors. As soon as she woke up they could leave.

Katie Peterson sat on a log in the lumber yard. Snow was falling again and she pulled the sleeves of her hoodie up around her hands. She had slept in the cabin of the logging crane the previous night, and it hadn't been as cold as it was now. She picked up her bag and looked over at the giant yellow machine. It seemed like a good place to spend tonight as well. She walked over and climbed inside. She wished that she had brought a watch. Her iPod's clock had always been off, so she only used it for music. Mostly Metallica, but some of The Eagles, Aerosmith, and Sting had made their way onto her playlists. Katie had turned it off an hour ago to save it's battery, but she wished that she could listen to it. The music calmed her, in the way others found cigarettes calming. Her dad had introduced her to the metal genre when she was just a toddler, and she had never stopped loving it.

She looked outside and saw a figure running out of the woods. She crouched down inside the cabin and found that she couldn't lock the doors. What kind of vehicle couldn't have it's doors locked? She pulled her Taser out of her pack and armed it. She prayed that they would leave her alone, but she knew that she would be seeing someone as she felt someone climb onto the crane's wheels.

Kate poised herself towards the door where the sound was coming from. She heard the handle being grasped and as soon as the door swung open she lept forwards and Tased the intruder. There was a muffled sound and the body fell to the ground below the cabin of the machine. She looked down at it. Martin Coleman. Kate went down and made sure that he was still breathing. She didn't want to kill anyone, least of all Martin. She drew the word "sorry" on the light layer of snow now on the ground. Then she looked at his weapon. A pipe. It was better than hers, so she took it and left him there on the ground. She didn't want to kill him, but she certainly wouldn't go out of her way to save him. She went north towards the woods humming the tune of a Metallica song.

"Ow!"

"Sorry!"

"It's fine, It just, OW!"

"Maybe we should take a break?"

"No, we're nearly there."

Lindsay and Ivy were nearly to the medical station near the edge of town, Lindsay draping one arm over Ivy's shoulder for support. Her leg was throbbing, and still bleeding a little, but mostly fine. Still Lindsay had insisted that they go to the medical station to get her some antibiotics to prevent infection.

They got to the front door and Ivy opened it for Lindsay. She hobbled in and Ivy closed it, clutching Lindsay's screw driver. She had dropped her knife in the explosion but luckily they still had this. She helped Lindsay down the hall and opened the door to the first room, and was surprised to see the barrel of a gun pointing at her head. She looked up and saw that Jacob Tyler was holding it. Lindsay was as pale as the snow outside, and Ivy guessed that she was about the same shade.

"Have either of you seen Kristen?" he said calmly. There was a shocked silence before he repeated himself.

"No…" Ivy said trying to sound calm. "We've only seen Nicholas, Brandon, and Spencer."

"Are you two playing?"

"No…"

"How'd you get that?" he asked gesturing at Lindsay's leg with the tip of his sniper rifle.

"An explosion. Either Spencer or Brandon has grenades." she said cautiously. HE swore and slung the gun over his shoulder. He grabbed Lindsay and Ivy nearly stabbed him with her screwdriver before she realized that he was placing her on the patient bed.

"Why are you here?" Lindsay asked as he searched the cabinets. He stopped moving bottles and pulled down the shoulder of his shirt to reveal his shoulder covered in gauze.

"Got shot."

"By who?"

"Owen."

"But isn't he dead?"

"Yeah, he kind of lost it and so I had to umm…"  
"You shot him!?"

"Yeah. He was playing. And he was clearly insane, muttering about revenge or something and shooting at me with an empty gun."

"Is that his then?"

"No, this is mine. This is his." He pulled a GP 35 out of the back of his pants and showed it to them. He had two guns. He'd already killed someone. He left the room to go find the antibiotics and Ivy gave Lindsay a scared look.

"Why hasn't he killed us yet?" Ivy asked.

"Maybe he's not playing?"

"But he is! He told us that he was!"

"Maybe he just…" But she didn't get to finish that sentence because just then bullets shot through the glass window in the room. Lindsay jumped off the bed and Ivy hit the ground. The bullets stopped.

"Oh my gosh, Ivy, your arm! Are you…" she didn't get to finish that sentence either because a grenade came flying into the room. Before Lindsay could react Ivy had jumped on top of it, covering it with her body. Lindsay screamed as her best friend blew up in front of her. She was thrown back against the wall.

**Girl #7, Ivy Hines- Eliminated**

**15 Students Remaining**

She stared at the spot where her friend just was. Now she was gone. Jacob ran into the room and took in the horrific scene: a black smudge in the center of the room, blood covering the walls, Lindsay staring at the spot. He ran to the window and looked for whoever had done this. He saw movement behind a tree and shot at it with his rifle. The two boys ran off and Jacob carried Lindsay out of the room. She was pale and covered in blood, her eyes wide open. She didn't make a sound as he carried her into the filing room. She just lay in the corner staring silently at the door.

Jacob un-slung the sniper rifle from his back and looked out the front door. They were probably still out there, waiting for him to leave. He went over and picked up a dusty magazine from a coffee table in the waiting room and looked at the woman on the cover. This was all too unreal. He shouldn't even be here. He should be at home, playing Xbox or driving around with Kristin, anywhere but here.

But he was here. And nothing else mattered except for getting Kristin out of here alive. He grabbed his gun a bit tighter and looked outside. It was dark out now. Probably around sevenish. He knew that he would stand a better chance of finding Kristin if he left Lindsay here. But could he do that to her? She had just seen her best friend die. Then again, Kristin couldn't live if Lindsay were still alive. He sighed, headed to the room farthest down the hall and picked up his bag. This was going to be a long night. He let the sniper rifle swing to his back and reached for his GP 35.

It wasn't there. Could he have dropped it? Then he heard firing from outside the clinic and ran to the waiting room. He looked out the front and saw Lindsay screaming and firing round after round into the tree where the two boys had been. She reloaded and kept charging. It was Owen all over again. He saw movement behind a car and Spencer pulled out his Steyr TMP. Jacob ran back through the clinic and left through the back door. Now there was no reason for him not to find Kristin.

**Girl #8, Lindsey Hughes- Eliminated**

**14 Students Remaining**

Martin Coleman woke up with his chest burning and body freezing. It was dark outside, and the moon showed that it was maybe ten. What happened? He sat up and looked around. He was still in the lumber yard. He reached for his bag when he realized that he couldn't feel his hands. He rubbed them together and put his arm through the bag's straps as he made his way to the cabin of the logging crane. The door was wide open so he got in and shut the door using his foot to pull it closed. He could feel his fingers a bit better now, so he opened his bag and drank some of the water. Then he realized that his pipe was missing.

Who had taken his pipe but not killed him? How was he supposed to defend himself now? He slumped down to below the dashboard and continued to rub his fingers together. What should he do? Hide? Try to find a different weapon? Then he saw movement outside. There was someone with a flashlight going into a little shack. A girl. Maybe they could help him.

Martin left the machine and walked stiffly to the shack. He could see the glow of the flashlight from the doorway. It was so bright. He dug through his bag until he found his flashlight.

"Hello?" he called out. The flashlight went off and the girl replied.

"Who are you?"

"Martin. And you?"

"Are you playing?"

"No, are you?"

"No." She peered out, machete at the ready and looked at him. He couldn't tell who it was so he turned his flashlight on and aimed it at her. She couldn't see, and panicking, swung her machete at him. He managed to duck but she swung again and nicked his arm.

"Stop!"

"You said you weren't playing you bastard!" she said as she swung in his general direction. She still couldn't see and he had to shine the light on her to see where she was swinging. The blade swiped just in front of his temple and he fell back over a log. She swung again, tripped, and fell on top of him. He closed his eyes and he felt the handle of the machete against his chest. He took one last breath and hoped that he would go somewhere warmer.

Then he realized that he wasn't in pain. And that the girl was still on top of him. And his forehead was wet. He opened his eyes and saw the girl's face directly over his, her mouth dripping blood onto his face. He pushed her off and saw that the machete had gone through her, not him. He picked up his flashlight and shone it on her face. It was Lisa Allen. He held his lunch in and pulled the machete out of her. This wasn't his fault. It couldn't have been, it was just an accident. He couldn't keep it in any longer and threw up behind a pile of logs.

But now he had a weapon. And he could win. Because he was a hunter. And these people, they were his prey. It may have been different if Owen or John were still alive, but they weren't, so he would have to play. After all, he was the best hunter in his class.

**Girl #2, Lisa Allen- Eliminated**

**13 Students Remaining**


	4. Chapter 4

Jonas Thurman could see Kate across the street from his position in a western-style restaurant. She was looking at different CD's in the music store while looking around every ten seconds. It was almost time for the third announcement, which would determine whether or not he was going to try and talk to her. If someone she was close to died then he could pretend to be sad too and suggest they team up. Jonas has already grabbed a spatula from the kitchen so he could say it was his weapon. He wished there had been knives or something even remotely more useful, but it appeared that all of the knives had been removed.

He stayed down, hiding underneath a table near the front until the announcement came on. Gosh it was cold.

"Hello my little warriors! I hate to distract you all from your fun, but it's time for some news! Among the dead are Boy #6, Javier Cruz, Boy #7, Nicholas Green, Girl #7, Ivy Hines, Girl #8, Lindsay Hughes, and Girl # 2, Lisa Allen. You're halfway there! Keep up the good work! Now, the restricted zones are A5 at 3am, E3 at 6am, and B6 at 9am."

Jonas marked off the areas on his map and saw Kate doing the same. Luckily Ivy and Lindsay were gone, meaning that she was vulnerable and needed a shoulder to cry on. He picked up his bag, looked both ways down the street, and walked nonchalantly over to the music store, when he pretended to be surprised to see her and walked up to her. Kate wasn't as happy to see him. She had her Taser pointed at his chest.

"Kate… It's me."

"Yeah, and I don't trust you yet. What weapon do you have?"

"Just this." he said, pulling out a spatula.

"Oh, so you just walked out of a restaurant and you coincidentally have a spatula as a weapon? I don't think so. Show me your real weapon."

"This is my real weapon… Kate… are you feeling alright?" he asked this last part slowly. If he could make her think that she wasn't thinking straight, then that Taser was as good as his.

"Just leave while you still can." she almost yelled. A Taser wasn't worth this much effort. He held his hands up and backed up towards the door. He reached for the door and pushed it open, letting the cold night air chill the music store. Then she pulled the trigger. Pain shot through his body and he collapsed onto the floor. Kate didn't trust him to walk around out there. She looked through his bag and found that he had been given a spatula. She took most of his water and food and left him lying halfway out of the door. She looked over at a car that was blackened on one side with it's windows blown out. She hoped that whoever had done that was dead now and walked off.

* * *

Kurt Hartman almost didn't notice Collette Russo sleeping on the tiled floor of the diner. She was huddled underneath a table, using her sweater as a sleeping bag. He walked silently in the diner through the back door. Half of the class was dead, and he still didn't have a decent weapon. Still, he readied his ladle as he looked to see what weapon she had in the moonlight. Then he saw her revolver a few inches away from her right hand. Should he slowly grab it, or just rush it and get it before she can react? He opted for rushing it and snatched it, managing to wake her in the process. She grasped for the gun that was no longer there and swung her legs out, tripping him slightly but he managed to stay standing.

"Stay down!" He yelled with his new weapon in hand. She didn't move. Her left hand had fallen into her bag and was shaking slightly. Should he kill her? He had only really wanted the gun for protection, but eventually, he would have to play. Why not now? _No_, he thought, _it's not who you are._ He sighed and lowered the gun. He couldn't do it.

Then she pulled out another gun and shot, but the bullet went far to the left of his head. He shot at her but she had already scooted back underneath the table so he couldn't see her. She shot again and hit a leg of a table nearby. He jumped on top of a table and jumped over to the counter. A bullet hit a pepper shaker. He shot twice in her general direction but missed. Where was she?

Out of nowhere a bottle of water hit him in the face and spilled onto the counter. He slipped off and saw Collette for a brief second. He shot but she had jumped onto a table. He tried to push back underneath a table but the floor was wet from the water bottle as well. Another water bottle came and knocked his revolver from his hand, sending it skidding across the floor. She walked onto the table next to him and aimed her gun at him, but he kicked up a chair and she fell off. Collette landed on her side and shot at him, one bullet grazed his calf. Kurt pulled his legs in and threw a tabled down between them. He heard two bullets shoot into it and he pushed off of it towards the revolver. He was a few inches from it and he pulled himself forwards. His fingertips brushed it and suddenly a table flipped onto his fingers. He screamed and three bullets shot into his back.

**Boy #8, Kurt Hartman- Eliminated**

**12 Students Remaining**

* * *

Donna Yarber was laying in the big bed of the house she had been hiding in since the beginning. She had yet to meet anyone, thanks to her "weapon" which told her whenever someone was coming so she could hide. It was about three in the morning. She had been slept twice so far, in six hour increments. Her sleeping schedule had always been a bit off, but the Program had made it even more so. She yawned and checked her locator thing. The screen showed that no one was near her. Luckily people seemed to be staying away from this area. She sat up and pulled on her sweatshirt before walking across the cold hardwood floor to the kitchen.

She pulled a bag of barbecue chips from the cupboard and snacked on them for an early breakfast. This house had been pretty well stocked, except the electricity had been turned off so it was constantly cold. She made her way to the couch and picked up a flashlight the copy of _A Clockwork Orange_ that she had found here. She was most of the way through it now, and even though the wording was complicated and the subject matter was _extremely_ brutal, she found it a very good story about an oppressive and evil government. She wished that the previous owners of this house had a copy of Les Miserables, but anything that she could escape into was good enough. She had always been a good reader, but she found that it was easier to relate with characters in books than real people. Eventually she just gave up on real people and stuck with her books.

Donna heard a shatter from outside. She dropped the book, walked quickly to the bedroom and picked up the locator. There was a red dot that indicated that there was someone about ten meters outside the house. She walked carefully to the front room and lifted up the corner of the curtains. It looked like Brandon; he was short and dark and he had on his black jacket. He hadn't seen her so she put back the edge of the curtain. Brandon didn't appear to have a weapon, but she couldn't be sure if he was hiding it or not. She let out a breath of air and sat up against the wall. Hopefully he would leave soon. She looked back at the screen and saw that she might have to run soon.

There was a second dot on the other side of Brandon's dot.

Brandon Lowe walked on the light layer of snow on the ground. The night was bone-chillingly cold, but his jacket was thick enough to keep him warmish. He looked at a nearby house. It was a very nice house, with a French-style outside and a three car garage. It should be a nice enough place to stay for a while. He walked up to the front door and pushed it open.

He had been separated from Spencer when they had been shot at at the medical clinic. They had agreed to meet up near one of these fancy houses when they had first started out. He wondered when Spencer would show up.

Then he heard a snap behind him. He turned around, rolling up the doormat to use as a temporary weapon. Brandon looked around to see where it could have come from. There was a car parked on the side of the road not too far away, so he carefully crept up towards it. There was another snap and this time he could tell that it was definitely coming from behind the car. He readied the mat and jumped around to see who was making the sound.

But there was no one there. His gaze turned to a small box, about the size of his palm. A snap came out from a tiny speaker in the box's top. What was it? Brandon never found out the answer to that question because at that moment he felt cold metal against his neck. He turned around and swung his mat as hard as he could as it cut into his throat. Blood filled his airway and he clasped his neck, letting the mat unroll. The attacker ambled back, now semi-recovered from the blow with the mat. They struck again into Brandon's arm. Brandon let out a gurgled scream and he fell down, kicking madly. The third blow hit him in the hand covering his neck. Brandon closed his eyes and succumbed to the darkness.

**Boy #9, Brandon Lowe- Eliminated**

**11 Students Remaining**

Donna was running as fast as she could away from the house. She didn't know where, but she was running, which would normally be hard for her, but given what she had just seen the adrenaline made up for her slowness. She tripped over a rock and skidded along the snowy asphalt. Her teeth clenched, her arms burned, she rolled her sleeves up over them, ran to a nearby auto shop, ran inside and slumped against the door. This was too much.

After she had finished catching her breath she looked around, first in the waiting room area, where coffee had been spilt onto the floor and chairs had been overturned. Then she went into the actual shop when she slipped on some oil. She got up and, looking at the oil, realized that it was red. She screamed before hurriedly clasping her hand over her mouth. Whose blood was this?

* * *

Spencer Bennett was walking towards the area where the richer houses were through the woods. There was less snow on the ground now that the sun had started to come out. He shivered, wishing that he had brought a coat with him. His frozen hands clutched the handle of the Steyr TMP. Brandon had run out of grenades at the medical center, so hopefully he didn't run into anyone he couldn't handle. Or maybe it would be better if he did, so he wouldn't have to kill him later on. Only one could win afterall. Half of the class was gone now, meaning that most of the weaker people had already been weeded out. The remaining students would be the players and the athletes. Although, a lot of the athletes were already gone, namely Javier, Lisa, and Ryan. He thought pulled the class roster out of his bag and scrutinized the names without marks next to them, making mental notes about them. Only one could win, and that would be him. He made his way through the trees, this thought fresh in his mind.

* * *

Mrs. Daphne sat uncomfortably on a couch that had been placed in the monitor room after the students had all left. She could feel one of the soldiers eyeing her from the corridor, but she didn't care. Her eyes were glued to the twenty monitors a few feet away, each of which was focused on a different student. Some of the more active students had two. She prayed that they would all just stop playing. What a horrible term that was: playing. Like children playing a game. But was no game, not at all. This was wrong. All of it. She had been threatened by Mr. Rudolph's men that if she didn't tell them what they had to do that she would be killed. She hated herself for going through with it, but she had to make sure that someone was watching the children. _Her _children. But what could she even do? She looked at the class roster below her. Mr. Rudolph had taken the liberty to cross off the names of the deceased. She shuddered. There were so many names crossed off.

B1 Ricky Adkins- Very fit. Has a strong chance of winning if given a good weapon.

G1 Brittney Albert- Popular.- Likely to team up with friends but killed halfway through.

B2 John Banks- Good student. Likely to die early on.

G2 Lisa Allen- Fast. Likely to make it until she has to confront someone.

B3 Spencer Bennett- Bully. Likely going to play hard and might win.

G3 Nicole Boyd- Prissy but fast. Likely to get killed off early if she doesn't make an alliance.

B4 Kevin Byrd- Weak. Likely to die early on.

G4 Ruth Campbell- Strong religious morals. Likely to die early on because she won't play.

B5 Martin Coleman- Good hunter. If given a gun he stands a chance of winning.

G5 Naomi Coleman- Strong religious morals. Likely to die early on because she won't play.

B6 Javier Cruz- Athletic. Should do decently.

G6 Kelly Dennis- Class president. Likely to be too trusting and be betrayed.

B7 Nicholas Green- Been on various drugs for depression and anxiety. Likely to commit suicide.

G7 Ivy Hines- Strong. Might win if given a good weapon and avoids confrontation.

B8 Kurt Hartman- Fast. Likely to do pretty well.

G8 Lindsay Hughes- Smart. Likely to panic and do something stupid or commit suicide.

B9 Brandon Lowe- Troublemaker. Likely to backstab Spencer to win.

G9 Kristin Jenkins- Small but feisty. Likely to put up a good fight before she dies.

B10 Owen Miller- Smart. Likely to die early.

G10 Kate Peterson- Calm. Likely to stay cool headed and hidden until the end when she dies.

B11 Jonas Thurman- Class vice-president. Likely to try and make a group.

G11 Maria Rodriguez- Lovergirl. Likely to sacrifice self for Ryan to win.

B12 Jacob Tyler- Fit and popular. Will probably try to make a large group but be killed off later.

G12 Collette Russo- Hates her classmates. Could be a contender if she gets a good weapon.

B13 Ryan Walters- Loverboy. Likely to sacrifice self for Maria to win.

G13 Donna Yarber- Very out of shape. Likely to die early.

"Half dead in one and a half days. Pretty impressive isn't it." Mr. Rudolph said, walking up from behind her. "Nowhere near the record mind you, but impressive none the less." She stayed silent and put the papers down. What kind of sick bastard did this for a living? Her eyes flicked up towards a monitor. _Oh God,_ she thought.

* * *

Ricky Adkins ran through the woods with the wooden board he was currently using as his weapon. He had been lucky that he hadn't seen anyone with a gun so far, but it was bound to happen sooner or later and he needed a better weapon. Ricky suddenly stopped. There was a rope stretched between two trees right in front of him. A carefully stepped over it and took another step, resulting in a sharpened branch being flung into his gut. Who the heck had done all this? He grit his teeth and pulled it out. It looked like a shank. He pocketed it before trying to find the meager medical supplies he had been given in his pack.

Martin Coleman had been hard at work, setting up trip wires all around this section of the forest. He had acquired quite a lot of rope from the shed that Lisa had hidden in, and he was putting it to good use. His dad had taught him how to make snares for rabbits and deer, so he only had to make them a bit bigger for use on humans. He was just tying up another one when he heard a loud noise. He held his machete down the length of his forearm and walked towards it. He peeked around a tree and saw his prey. Ricky Adkins. Surely he had been given a decent weapon. Ricky was leaned up against a tree trunk tending to a wound in his side. _Time to win,_ he thought.

Then he charged Ricky. He barely had any time to react and it was all over before he could let out a yell. Martin looked over and saw that Ricky's weapon was a wooden board. Not exactly worth it, but at least it was one more down.

**Boy #1, Ricky Adkins- Eliminated**

**10 Students Remaining**

* * *

Jonas Thurman was watching as Kelly Dennis came his way. His chest was burning from the taser attack earlier but he ignored it the best he could. He needed to be as friendly as possible to Kelly if he wanted to take her weapon. She was cautiously checking every alleyway and window as she walked down the street. He carefully opened the door and waved to her. She looked both ways before crossing the road to him.

"Oh my gosh, Jonas, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Yeah, I'm glad you're okay too. This is so crazy!"

"I know right. I can't believe some people are actually doing it. We all need to just band together and find someway out of this."

"Exactly. Have you found anyone else yet?"

"Yeah, I found Naomi and Ruth right before Brittney killed them. I can't believe she's actually playing! I barely got away myself! Oh, and I saw Kurt for a little bit, but he only had a ladle and he didn't attack me so I don't think he's playing. What about you, you see anyone?"

"Yeah, Kate. This game has gotten to her head. She tased me!"

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just a bit sore. Thank God she didn't have a gun or anything."

"No kidding! It's so weird, I never thought of her as the irrational type."

"Me either. I guess it just goes to show you how crazy this Program is."

"Yeah, crazy… I think that an announcement is going to come on soon." She checked her watch. "Yep, almost noon."

"I hope we aren't in a restricted zone."  
"Same here. I…" She stopped talking to listen to the announcement that had just come on.

"Hello once again, my little warriors! You are slacking! Only three dead since I last checked in. Boy #1, Richard Adkins, Boy #14, Kurt Hartman, and Boy#15, Brandon Lowe. Just ten of you left: six girls and four boys. Congrats to the girls for outnumbering the guys. Anyhow, maybe this will make things move along more rapidly. Half of you will be receiving a new random weapon! Don't worry, these ones aren't as horrible as what some of you got. The five lucky contestants will be airdropped a weapon in an hour, so look to the skies and stay alive. Also, Sections B2, F3, D5, and C4 will become off limits at 3pm, 6pm, 9pm, and midnight respectively. Good luck!"

"Well that's not entirely promising." Jonas said.

"Yeah… hopefully they all go to someone not playing. What weapon did you get?"

"Just a spatula. What about you?"

"Blow darts." Kelly replied, nodding to the pipe slung around her shoulder. Jonas held his spatula firmly in his hand. Blow darts wouldn't be too great of a weapon against automatics. Hopefully at least one of them would get a decent weapon within the next hour. Then he would leave Kelly and he could start playing this thing. He may not have done anything yet, but he was confident in his ability to catch up with the right weapon.

"Come on, we're in C4. We should get to someplace where we can spend the night." Kelly said, awaking him from his scheming.

"Yeah, let's go." He replied. He could wait until night to take her weapon.


	5. Chapter 5 & Epilogue

**5**

Donna Yarber was huddled in the auto shop's lobby area, her eyes on the screen of her locator. She was relieved to find out that she was in a safe zone, but with only ten people left, someone was bound to find her sooner or later, and when they did, she had no way of protecting herself. She had been able to live this long by hiding, but her luck was going to run out sooner or later. Her eyes remained glued to the screen of the device, hardly daring to blink. She was scared. She felt a bead of sweat run down her face. The air became harder to breathe. She could feel her time running out. Her heart was beating like a machine. In fact, it even sounded like one. It got louder and louder until she realized that her heart wasn't the thing making that noise. She checked her locator again before going outside.

Donna looked up at the helicopter just as it flew away. _That's weird_ she thought. Then, she looked at the ground and saw the package now covered in a white parachute. Was that hers? She checked the locator and saw that no one was around. Well it was definitely hers. Finally, some good luck in this thing. She jogged over to it and unwrapped the package, letting several clips of ammunition fall to the concrete. Her weapon was a Scorpion gun. She examined it and picked up an instructions manual that had fallen out with the clips. After some quick reading she loaded it, putting the extra clips into her bag. She didn't want to use it, but she knew she would have to eventually if she wanted to win.

She sat up against the side of the garage, her eyes fervently switched from the locator and the instructions manual. About half an hour later she had memorized the instructions and had practiced aiming at some buildings far away. Donna wished that she could practice actually shooting, but she knew that would give away her position. This is insane, she thought, I should be home, reading Les Miserables and drinking cider, not training to kill. But whether she should be home or not, she was here, and being here meant that she had to do what she needed to do.

Donna looked down at her locator and saw a red dot on the right edge of the screen. She had made it this far, and she wasn't ready to give up now. She grabbed her bag and ran, her new gun in hand.

* * *

The air was a bit too cold for Jacob's liking as he searched for Kristin behind the town bank. But then again, it was warmer than it had been the last day. The weather here was insane; it could be snowing one minute and sunny the next. Still, he had been very fortunate that he had worn his jacket on the trip. He knew for a fact that Kristin only had a t-shirt to warm her up. Jacob knew that she could handle herself, but still, what if she ended up cornered against Spencer and Brandon? Well, just Spencer now, but still. But who could have taken out Brandon? Didn't he have grenades? Or his best friend, Ricky for that matter? Ricky had to be the most in shape student in the school. He played football and soccer, and even got mistaken for a senior several times a year. Jacob hoped that he wouldn't run into whoever had killed him.

The sun was slowly making it's descent into the horizon. It had been over 48 hours since this thing had all started, and somehow both he and Kristin were both still alive. He hoped that he would find her soon, safe and sane. Then Jacob could help her win. He would play to make sure that she got out. He didn't want to kill anyone, but for Kristin he would do anything. Just to make sure that she was safe. He sighed and looked down at his map. Maybe Kristin was near the richer houses. It was the only urban area he hadn't checked yet, and he was sure that she wouldn't be in the woods if she could help it. Jacob started running North, sniper rifle slung over his shoulder and GP 35 in his hand, praying that he would find her.

* * *

Brittney Albert was walking down the street holding her newly acquired shotgun at the ready. She had been very fortunate that the previous owners had been such wimps and left it in the history classroom.

This whole Program was weird. It felt like a dream that she would wake up from soon. It was also kind of exhilarating. If you had asked her before she got on the bus if she would even consider killing her classmates she would have said no way. But now that she had done it four times, felt the rush, the sensation of being in such control, she wasn't going to stop. Not until she was the last one anyways.

Brittney heard a helicopter flying above her. She pressed herself against the side of a building and watched as it dropped off a long package attached to a parachute. She ran over to it and ripped off the plastic wrapping and saw the long shaft of a pike. She picked up her new weapon and admired the elegant blade atop the long wooden pole. This could be useful. Brittney opened her bag and tossed out the knife and pepper spray, along with some empty bags of food. Her bag was bulging with food that she had taken from her classmates.

Brittney swung her pike around a few times at imaginary classmates, imagining how she would take them out. Just nine more, and she would to go back to her normal life. Then she realized how boring her normal life would seem after all of this. Sure, it would be nice to take a shower and watch tv, but after a while that would get boring. She thought about what her life would be like after this. Probably a few interviews about how she won and what it was like playing for the first few weeks, and then she would just be reduced to watching tv. _Her_, a winner of The Program! She would be glad to see her family and friends again though. Then, a realization smashed into her like a bus.

Her friends were dead. Maria, Nicole, Ryan, Ricky, Kurt, all dead. _But, that's not my fault_, she thought. The image of Nicole dying on a bush flashed through her mind. _No, I had to! She was going to kill me! It's how you win! _Nicole ran from her in her mind. _No, I'm your friend! _Nicole screamed and looked at Brittney, terror filling her eyes. _No, stop, please, don't leave me! _Maria was running from her too now. So was Ryan. And Kristin. And then everyone was running from her. _Stop! Don't leave me alone! _They kept running and she couldn't keep up. Suddenly she was alone. She turned around in the darkness, trying to find someone, anyone.

Then she was in the library. It was seventh grade and she was looking for a book for her next book report. A round girl with glasses came up to her.

"I would recommend this book." she said, holding out a copy of _The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy. _"It's pretty funny for a book, and not too hard to read."

"Umm, thanks." Brittney said. She went up to check it out.

"I liked your poem today." the girl said.

"My what?"

"Your poem. About your father."

"Oh, umm, thanks."

"My dad's gone too."

"How do you know that my dad's gone?"

"I could just tell. By the way you read it."

"Oh.." Brittney almost said that she was sorry, but her friends came in at that moment.

"What does this nerd want from you Britt?" one of them said.

"She just gave me this book."

"Ha! What a weirdo!" She took the book from Brittney's hands and threw it at the girl. She recoiled and picked it up to re-shelve it.

"Yeah," another friend said, "what a creep!"

Brittney could feel the pressure from her friends to join in, to prove that she didn't feel sorry for this nerd. But she did. She should have said stop. She should have said to leave her alone. She should have ran away, but what she did next was far worse than any amount of books you could throw at a girl.

"Even her own father thinks so! He left her, she told me! He probably couldn't stand to have such a piece of crap for a daughter!" she filled these words with as much spite as she could muster. Not spite to the girl, but to her own father.

But the girl didn't know that. Her glasses filled with tears and her lips trembled. The girls watched impressed at what Brittney had done. The girl ran out of the library and straight into the bathroom.

"C'mon guys, lets leave Donna to cry away her filth." a girl said. They left the library, not noticing that Brittney had slipped the discarded book into her bag. Not noticing the tears forming in her eyes.

Brittney was back in the present suddenly. She was leaning against the wall of a shop. What had just happened? Warm tears ran down her face, dropping off her chin onto the ground. But she didn't feel them. She didn't feel it when her knees hit the sidewalk, or when her head rested upon her bag. She didn't feel scared or guilty or grief or half a dozen other things that she should have felt in that moment. Brittney Alberts felt cold, and nothing else.

* * *

Collette Russo could see the outline of the boy in the distance. It had to be him, who else could walk with such arrogance at a time like this. She readied her weapons, one in both hand, and quietly ran up behind him. She was about twenty feet away from him now. He didn't seem to hear her walking. She ran up a few more feet before jumping out from behind a tree and firing. Spencer ducked behind a tree almost immediately and returned fire with an automatic weapon of some sort. She swore and ducked behind a tree until he stopped firing. Then she shot at him several more times, emptying both guns. She reloaded while he returned fire.

She realized that this would go on forever if something didn't happen soon. Collette waited until he had to reload, and then she quietly jumped up behind a new tree, still firing to make him think she was doing the same thing he was. When she stopped, Spencer began firing at the tree that she used to be at. From her new angle, Collette shot several bullets into his back and he fell to the ground behind the tree. It was silent. His legs weren't moving. Collette had won.

She happily ran up to grab his automatic. She turned around the tree and saw Spencer's limp body. _Serves him right for being such a pervert_, she thought. She was reaching down for his gun when she realized that something didn't feel right. What was it? Was it guilt? No, definately not. It was more like the environment was off. Then he swung his arm up and hit her face with the side of the gun. She swore and tried to move back but it was too late, Spencer was already firing off into her. Then she realized that there wasn't any blood on him. She screamed and he fired until the clip was empty.

**Girl # 12, Collette Russo- Eliminated**

**9 Students Remaining**

Spencer was lucky that she hadn't shot at his head. Even luckier though, that he had gotten body armor from a helicopter about half an hour ago. Just what he needed to win. And with only nine or less students remaining, he felt pretty good about his chances of winning.

* * *

Mrs. Daphne stared at the monitor focusing on Kelly and Jonas. She could hear them talking about how to end The Program. Mrs. Daphne felt her stomach sink. There was no way out. She of all people should know that. She had tried to blow up the building with her friends when The Program was just starting out. She shuddered and pushed back those memories. She had become a teacher to protect children, to ensure that they wouldn't have to go through what she went through, but now she was powerless. She had realized too late what was going on in the bus, and had failed to protect them.

"I'll give it to them, they have serious guts to try something this late in the game." said Mr. Rudolph, coming up from behind her.

"I think it might work." she said.

"Hahaha, only if they could find gas. We siphoned out the gas from every car we found. There's not even a drop left."

"But there's bound to be some you missed somewhere."

"Doubtful. Besides, blowing up the generator would only disable the danger zones, the collars would still explode if you try to take them off."

"So the collars are battery powered?"

"No, they just are manually powered and activated by a smaller generator and it's officer." And if they manage to somehow drive a truck into him then I'll be extremely impressed."

"Oh." she said as casually as she could. It was about 2pm now. She hoped that she they would stop fighting soon.

"Oh look, three of them are closing in at the same time!" he said excitedly. Mrs. Daphne left the room, pretending to not be able to handle the fighting. She had to find that second generator. Soon.

* * *

Donna's luck from earlier seemed to have worn off. Not that she was in trouble or anything, but the locator had just died, leaving her to amble around the map blind. It was starting to get dark as the sun finally hid behind some trees in the distance. Soon she would have to find someplace to spend the night, but for now, she was making sure there was no one around.

"Donna!" said a cheerful voice behind her. She swung around and aimed her gun at the sound.

"Whoa, don't shoot, it's me, Kelly." said Kelly, coming out from behind a tree. Donna warily wondered whether or not Kelly could be trusted. But then again, Kelly could have easily snuck up on Donna in the darkening woods.

"Hey Kelly."

"Hey! Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're okay! I've been trying to get people to not play from the beginning but this game is crazy. C'mon, if you come with me we'll have a real team to beat this thing!"  
"How do you plan to beat this thing?"

"Well Jonas and I have been talking it over and we think that if we were to drive a truck right into the radio tower's generator, the collars won't work, and then we could find some way to get them off."

"Jonas and you? How many of you are there?"

"Just us two right now. But three if you come with us! I'm sure once we get the collars off people will stop playing, and we can stop all of this killing. Please say you'll come with us Donna. We're safer in numbers and we don't have anyone to keep watch yet."

"Keep watch?"  
"Yeah, while we fix up the truck to run by itself. Neither of us have guns so we can't very well guard. So, what do you say?"

"Ummm, sure." Donna said slowly. This whole plan sounded pretty decent, and if she trusted anyone, it would be Kelly. Kelly who was crazy enough to walk right up to an armed girl so she could ask her to join them.

"Great! Our base is this way." she said, leading the way.

After about ten minutes of walking, they made it to the front door of a trailer. Kelly knocked on the door and Donna could hear it unlocking. Jonas poked his head out and saw Donna almost immediately.

"Jonas, we have a new recruit!"

"Hey Donna." he said quietly, letting them in. The trailer was small but cozy, with two couches piled high with blankets and pillows.

"Make yourself at home Donna." Kelly said. Donna sat herself on a sofa and Jonas brought her some lukewarm broth in a mug.

"Sorry it's kinda cold, we cooked it while it was still light out." he said.

"Thanks."

"Yep. What gun is that?"

"Oh, ummm, it's called a Scorpion. I got it from the helicopter."

"Cool. Can I look at it please?"

"Ummm, sure?"

"Thanks." he said, examining the gun. Donna sipped her broth and eyed him nervously.

"We were going to rig up the truck tonight, so we could save people as soon as possible, but also in the dark so hopefully most people will be indoors."

"Cool."

"Yeah. So in an hour or so we will go get th- whoa, don't point that at anything you don't want to shoot." Kelly said, causing Donna to look up at Jonas, who was now aiming her gun at them with a sickly smirk on his face

"Up! Both of you!"

Donna and Kelly stood in shock. Jonas had a gun. Donna's gun. He aimed it at them for a long time before Kelly decided to speak up.

"Jonas… you don't have to do this, you don't have to play." she said as calmly as she could.

"Yes I do!" he shouted. "I need to win! My father will have to be proud of me if I win! He'll have to!"

"I don't think he wants you to kill people, Jonas."

"Shut up! You think you know everything but you don't, Kelly! You don't know my father so SHUT UP!"

"Jonas, we're your friends. This is crazy! We go to school together!"

"I said shut up!"

"If you really wanted to hurt us you would have pulled the trigger by now. C'mon, just put the gun down and we can talk about this."

"You don't think I can do you? You think I'm too weak to?"

"No, that's not it, just…"

"Is this weak, bitch!?" he screamed, pulling the trigger. Kelly closed her eyes, heard Donna scream and felt Donna fall against her legs.

"DONNA, NO!"

"I told you I would!" he yelled. Kelly was so sure that Jonas would shoot her, not poor Donna. She lay on her side, struggling to breathe, holding her rapidly bleeding chest. Donna was trying to speak but blood flowed out of her mouth. Jonas didn't pay her any attention, now focused on Kelly completely. Kelly kept switching between the two, not sure what to do.

"Now it's your turn!" he yelled, reloading the gun. Donna kept touching Kelly's leg. Kelly bent down to her.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." she lied. Donna pointed to Kelly's leg. She looked at it and saw that Donna had managed to write the word "RUN" in her blood on Kelly's leg. Before she had time to figure out what that meant, Donna somehow managed to stand up and hobble-charge Jonas, who was completely taken aback by it. He fired but she kept charging, and she stabbed one of Kelly's darts into Jonas's neck. He screamed, she screamed, he shot, she stabbed.

Kelly ran.

**Boy #11, Jonas Thurman- Eliminated**

**Girl #13, Donna Yarber- Eliminated**

**7 Students Remaining**

* * *

Jacob ran through the neighborhood. He had heard shooting nearby, so naturally he was going to where he had heard the gunshots. One of them could be Kristin, and he would rather take the chance than to miss finding her by not looking. He hoped above anything else that she was alright. He ran past house after house looking at each one. He knew Kristin, and he knew that she would have done something to tell him where she was. He stopped dead in his tracks when he came to a tall purple house.

It was the only purple house in the whole neighborhood. She loved purple. But was that really enough to warrant him checking it to see if she was there? _Why not?_ he thought. He jumped onto the front porch and knocked on the door. There was no reply. Of course there was no reply, like she would just walk up and open the door. He tried the handle. Locked.

"Kristin? Kristin, it's me Jacob! Open up if you're in there! Kristin!"

"Jacob!?" he heard her say. Oddly she wasn't muffled by the door at all.

"Kristin, open up."

"I'm over here doofus!" she said. He turned around and saw her on the porch of the adjacent house.

"Kristin!" he shouted, running off the porch towards her.

"Jacob!" she said, doing the same. They ran towards each other, preparing for an embrace. She was smiling her big bright smile at him. Her beautiful brown eyes glinted in the moonlight. He was so happy to see her, so happy that she was safe and that he could hold her one last time.

Then one second changed everything. A shot rang out, she looked down at her gut, fell down, he screamed, caught her before she hit the ground, and carried her back to the porch she had just been on.

"KRISTIN!"

"Jacob… I'm sorry, I should have found you earlier…"

"No, it's my fault. But it doesn't matter, I'm here now. We're together and everything's going to be fine."

"Jacob… I'm dying."

"No you're not, don't say that you're just…"

"Jacob… you're a horrible liar…"

"No, Kristin, please…"

"Can you… take care of Zero for me…"

"Yeah, I'd do anything for you Kristin… but you…"

"Jacob… kill that son of a bitch for me… win this…"

"I will! Kristin, please… I love you!"

"I love you…"

"Kristin… c'mon you can still…"

"I can't keep… eyes… open…"

"Kristin…"

"I… I love you… Jacob… I love..."

**Girl #9, Kristin Jenkins- Eliminated**

**6 Students Remain**

She stopped moving. Jacob's heart stopped. This couldn't be happening. Not like this. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to save her. _She_ was supposed to win. He closed her eyes and put some dying purple flowers from a vase on her chest. Tears fell rolled down his face. He picked up his sniper rifle and loaded it. That son of a bitch was going to pay.

He opened the door to the house and went to the back door. He took in a breath of stale air and gripped the handle. It was time to win. Jacob flung open the door and ran around, looking on the rooftops around him. A bullet whizzed past his head. He looked at where the bullet had come from and saw someone on the roof of a French-style house. Jacob ducked behind a planter as another bullet whizzed past. Jacob fired. He fired. It went on for what seemed like a lifetime, but in fact it was only about ten minutes. The boy fell off the roof and Jacob went over to see who it was.

**Boy #5, Martin Coleman- Eliminated**

**5 Students Remain**

It was Martin. He had a hunting rifle of some sort. Jacob shot into the boy several times before leaving. He had to win this for Kristin.

* * *

Kate wasn't exactly sure how to feel about her new weapon. It was a katana, it's blade slightly curved and it's handle jet black. On one hand, it wouldn't be very useful against anyone with a gun, but on the other, it beat a taser and a pipe any day. She had been practicing swinging it for quite a while, and was starting to get pretty good at controlling it. She was walking down the street looking for someplace warm to sleep. The diner looked promising so she went in. She saw the tables all messed up and water covering the floor.

Then she saw Kurt. She ran out of there as quickly as she could. She had never seen a body before, much less of someone that she knew. She tripped over something and let out a small scream. It was Lindsay. Poor Lindsay, one of her best friends. She was so sweet and smart. She didn't deserve to die. Kate ran into the medical station and caught her breath. She needed to get a grip. Running around like a headless chicken wasn't going to do her any good.

She stood up and checked the offices. The first one was empty, mind a few extra chairs. She opened the door to the second one and screamed, followed by her quickly covering her mouth, and then vomiting. Whose blood was that all over the walls? She ran back into the first room and hid in a corner, trying to control her breathing. And to think that she had tasered two people, that she was essentially a part of this sick thing. She knew people were dying but to actually see them, that changed everything. She pulled her ipod out of her pocket and began to blast heavy metal into her ears. She needed to calm down.

Then she saw the door to the room open. She didn't scream. She didn't even unsheath her katana. She just sat there, staring at the silhouette of the person who could clearly see her.

"Kate?" the person said. Kate didn't move. She wanted to run but she couldn't make her legs move.

"Kate? Are you okay?" the person asked again. Kate found herself nodding. The person came closer to her. It was Kelly Dennis. The class president. Most-likely to succeed and eligible to be the valedictorian in two years.

"Kelly?"

"Hey Kate."

"Kelly, there's blood on you…"

"Donna…. She was shot… she killed Jonas so I could escape."

"Jonas is playing?"

"He _was_. I don't know anymore. I just… I want to trust everyone, but I can't anymore. I know that they wouldn't be doing this if we had any other choice, but they are and I don't know what I can do. My friends are all dying and I can't do anything to stop them. Why can't they all just stop so we can find a way out together?"

"Why do you trust me?"

"To be perfectly honest Katie, I don't. I don't think I trust anyone anymore, which is the really messed up part in all of this. They make us afraid of each other by giving us all different weapons, so you never know if someone has a gun or a yoyo. It's just like what adults do in wars. They get scared of their friends being able to overpower them, so instead of just throwing away their weapons and trusting each other, they kill and get better weapons. If we had all been given yoyos no one would be fighting."

"I have a sword…" Kate said, suddenly realizing that she had the upperhand if necessary.

"If you're going to kill me, then go ahead, Kate. I'm tired of this stupid Program."

"Me too... Too many people have died already, and I don't want to be scared of any of my friends anymore."she said. Kate and Kelly got up in unison, as if they both knew what they were going to do. In reality they both just wanted to get out of the medical center.

"You know, that's an active zone." Kate said, nodding about ten feet to the right of the building. They stared at it for a while before Kelly spoke.

"Yeah. So?"

"You ever think that it would be easier to just end it on your own terms? So you don't have to fight, or make someone a killer?"

"I don't think so."

"Why not?"

"I think you need to try until the very end to make sure your friends are safe." Kelly said. Kate thought about this. About all of the people she'd known who wouldn't graduate. Who wouldn't be fathers or mothers, or ever do things all other people got to do.

"Kelly?"

"Yeah?"

"If we are the last two… would you just wait it out with me?"

"Yeah… yeah, Kate, I'd wait it out with you."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

They stared at the invisible line for a while longer. There was a sound behind them. They both swirled around in unison and saw Jacob aiming a gun at them. There was another sound and Brittney came out from the trees with a shotgun. The girls stood in the middle, not knowing what to do. So was this it? The final four all under one roof? Kelly stared at her armed classmates. She wouldn't die like this. She had to try to get them to listen before anything happened.

"Jacob, Brittney, you don't have to fight."

"Why not?" Jacob asked.

"Because that's what they want. In the end, no matter how many people you kill or how you die, they always win. And they will keep on doing this if they can get kids scared enough to fight each other. Is that really what you want?" There was a silence. Both teens kept their guns raised. Was it working?

"So you just want us to lay down and die?" Jacob asked.

"No, if we work together we can find a way out of this, I'm sure of it."

"You're lying! You want us to give you our guns so you can win!"

"Brittney, I'm not lying. You can keep your guns if you don't use them."

"And how do you think we'll end up getting out?"

"We could shoot the radio tower's generator, or drive a car into it. We have at least half a day left to do it and get out of here." Kelly finished. Her gaze shifted from her two classmates. Kate stood forgotten near her side.

"Okay." Jacob said. "Okay, I'll put my gun down if you do Brittney. Let's do it at the same time. On three. One. Two. Three."

His gun fell to the ground, but Brittney still had her gun raised at him.

"Brittney, we can all make it out of this, but you have to trust us. Please, lower your gun." Kelly said, now focusing on Brittney.

"Why now? Why can we only get out now? Why not in the beginning before everyone died?" Brittney yelled. "Why didn't you want to save Nicole, or Maria. Why can you save me but not them? Why did you choose me?"

"I've tried to get people to stop fighting since the beginning Brittney, but they were scared. We were all scared. But we shouldn't let them scare us. We can all win if we trust each other."

"No, we can't win! None of us can win anymore! They're all dead, all of them!" she screamed. Fresh tears rolled down her face and she started sobbing. "They're all gone and never coming back and it's my fault, it's all my fault!"

"It's not your fault Brittney, it was a mistake, but you can make up for it. Just lower your gun and…"

"NO! I won't let you leave me!"

"We aren't going to leave you, we can make it out together."

"LIAR!" she screamed and she fired. Kelly closed her eyes but once again wasn't hit by bullets. Jacob had jumped in front of them. He must have walked up here while she was trying to reason with Brittney. He fell to his knees but stayed in front of them. Protecting them like he couldn't protect Kristin. Both of his guns were thirty feet back behind him. If he went to get them then the girls would die.

Kelly knew that Brittney had lost it. As much as she wished that she could be saved, she knew that Brittney would kill them. She looked at Kate, who was now clutching her hands. She hadn't even known Kate too well before this, but now she felt inseparable to her. Brittney fired again. Luckily she was a bad shot and only managed to hit Jacob's side again, but he couldn't take another shot. Kelly stared into Brittney's eyes. They looked scared. They looked sad. But most of all, they looked lost. She knew what she had to do. She needed to try until the very end to make sure her friends were safe.

She stood up and charged. She ran like her brother had taught her to when preparing for a tackle. She filled the distance of twelve feet in no time and she lept up, her shoulder meeting Brittney's gut with a thud. They flew in the air for a while. _Only a few more feet_, she thought. Kelly thought about her mom, and her dad, and her brother, and summers spent in Virginia with her aunt, and of cookies, and stars, and thunder, and all the things that make life worth living. She thought of her friends. And with that she completed her last act as class president. Her last act to help improve the lives of the students within Mrs. Daphne's sophomore class.

And then she flew into the restricted zone, the two collars exploding in unison.

**Girl #1, Brittney Alberts- Eliminated**

**Girl #6, Kelly Dennis- Eliminated**

**3 Students Remaining**

"Oh my God!" Jacob said. He proceeded to fall onto his side and scream in agony. "Kate, what time is it?" he asked. She checked her ipod and started getting out bandages.

"Eleven twenty-one. Why?"

"I need to know if we are the last two."

"What?"

"Kate, If we're the last two I need you to give me my gun so you can win."

"But…"

"There's no way we'll get a truck running up now, and really no point if you can't do it by yourself in the next ten minutes."

"How do I know if we are the last two?"

"Who's died that you know of since noon?"

"Donna, Jonas, Kelly, Brittney. What about you?"

"Martin killed Kristin, I killed him. And I found Collette on the way here." he said between gasps. Kate did the math in her head.

"That means there's still one left besides us." she said. She pulled the class roster out of her bag, barely readable in the moonlight, and began crossing off names. "Oh my God… It's Spencer."

"Shit! Look, he's almost definitely playing. Take my gun and hide. Try to sneak up on him. I doubt you're going to be able to reason with him."

"But what about you?"

"Kate, I've got at least a dozen bullets in my side right now. Just take my guns and your katana and go."

"I don't want to play."

"You don't have a choice if you want to live."

"I… okay, I'll do it… I'm sorry, I can't fix you… I just…"

"It's fine Kate. Now go, I'm sure the shotgun attracted his attention."

* * *

Mrs. Daphne sat nervously in the monitor room. She had just seen two more of her students die. She could only hope that Jacob wouldn't bleed out for just a little longer. That was, if she didn't get caught and all went as planned. She sipped some cold coffee as she watched Kate and Spencer run around. They were far enough away that they shouldn't meet for a while, but still…

She pushed those thoughts out of her mind and tried to focus. She left the room to go to the bathroom. One more minute. Half a minute. Ten seconds. Her phone vibrated and she opened it. Mrs. Daphne placed it in the sink cabinet, flushed the toilet and left.

"So, final two eh?" said Mr. Rudolph. "Well, three technically, but if he wins then I'll eat my hat. So, who are you rooting for?"

"I'm rooting for this to just hurry up and be over with."

"I couldn't have said it better myself. Shame that Ms. Dennis died how she did though. She almost had me convinced that they could all get out. Oh look, only half an hour until I get to make another announcement. And hopefully, someone will have won by then."

He left the room and Mrs. Daphne looked back at the screens. She took careful note of where each student was and checked her watch. Any moment now there should be a…

BOOM!

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" shouted a guard. Mrs. Daphne checked the screens to make sure it had worked before sprinting outside. The cell phone signal should have been picked up by now, meaning someone was on their way.

* * *

Spencer Bennett was walking through the woods. This was almost over. Suddenly, his collar came off. Had he won? He tossed it into a bramble and sprinted to the radio tower. Had the others killed each other off? Then he saw the helicopters and smoke in the distance. What was going on?

* * *

Kate Peterson was out of breath, to put it plainly. She heaved air into her and willed her legs to move. Then she breathed in the smoke. Was Spencer burning something? Her collar gave way and she ran from it. What the heck?

* * *

Jacob Tyler swung in and out of consciousness at a sickening rate. One moment he would be seeing visions of Kristin, and the next he would be bleeding out onto the concrete. He was on the concrete, feeling what he thought would be the last of his pain, when Kristin came over. She touched his face and took off his collar. _This is it,_ he thought.

* * *

"There! Right down there!" Mrs. Daphne said to the pilot, pointing to the small figure of Spencer. The helicopter let down a rope ladder and her climbed in. He saw Mrs. Daphne sitting in the passenger seat.

"Is it over? Did I win?" he asked her.

"It's over." she said. The helicopter flew near the clothing store and dropped a ladder there as well. A girl began to climb up.

"Who's that?"

"That's Kate."

"Did we both win?"

"No, you're both safe though." she answered. Kate's head popped up into the cabin and she took a seat on the opposite side of Spencer. Neither of them said a thing to the other.

They arrived at the hospital in about half an hour. Mrs. Daphne was the first to see Jacob put on a pained smile before being drugged out. It took them a while, but eventually they got all eleven bullets out of the boy. Spencer also got his hand bandaged up properly, even though he claimed it didn't hurt anymore. After they had all talked to Jacob the three able to walk sat in the waiting area.

"So how did you save us?" Kate began.

"I blew up the secondary generator using some grenades I snuck from the armory."

"But how did you get the helicopters?"

"I found a group of government officials willing to help me stop this and I used my phone to signal them."

"Why didn't you call them sooner?"

"They contacted me about halfway through and told me what to do. I don't think they knew which class was selected and which class actually did die tragically in a bus accident."

"We died in a bus accident?"

"Yes. And that is what the media has been told. After Jacob wakes up though, you and your families are all going to Ireland to keep The Program from finding you."

"The Program? But I thought that you destroyed it?"

"No, sadly not. We merely weakened it, and there will probably be a program next year unless we can stop it."

"We?"

"I've been recruited by the group that helped get you out to try and put an end to it once and for all."

There was a silence. More kids would have to kill and die next year? They digested that thought for a while.

"Do you have any questions Spencer? You've been quiet this whole time." she asked.

"Am… am I a horrible person?" he asked. She sighed.

"No, you aren't a horrible person. What you did in there, that's different. They force you to kill and think that way."

"But she didn't kill anyone!" he said, pointing to Kate.

"I tased people."

"It's not the same! I _killed_ people! My goddamn classmates for crying out loud! I played and I played to win."

"Spencer, you cannot determine how good of a person you are from what you did in there. It's a different world with different rules. When I went in, I tried to stop it at first, but once I realized that I couldn't and my friends were dying, I played. I played _hard_. And yes I regret that they died but if they hadn't, I would have died, and so would two of you. So yes, feel bad, repent for what you did, but realize that you did what The Program wanted you to do, and not what you wanted to do. The Program makes certain people act differently, and you, well, you're just a fighter and that's the way it is."

"But why did I make it to the final three? Kelly, Owen, John, they all had futures ahead of them. I do fucking pot and fail my classes!"

"You can't ask that question. Just know that if you died, they would still be dead."  
"But Collette, and Kevin, and Nicholas, and Ivy, and Lindsay would all be alive if I died."

"Look, Spencer, you can't undo the past no matter how much you try. You just have to find a healthy way to deal with that. It's almost time for you guys to go to Ireland. I suggest you two get some sleep."

The plane ride had been silent. Even the dog Jacob insisted on bringing stayed quiet on his lap. But they had made the journey and were about to step into Ireland and see their families for the first time in three days.

Kate was the first off. Her dad in oil-stained jeans and a Metallica t-shirt rushed forwards and suffocated her in a hug before she even got off the stairs to the plane. His tears ran down her hair and her tears soaked his shirt. No words were spoken, just crying.

Spencer was off next. He nervously looked at his mother, a woman in a crinkled blouse and jeans, whose hair was slipping out of her loose pony-tail. He stood by the plane for a moment, not sure whether to run to his mom or not. But it was just for a moment and after that moment he ran, tears forming in his eyes. They hugged and his mom hugged him like his life depended on it repeating the words, "It's okay sweetie, it's okay."

Jacob had to be carried down then set into a wheelchair by a mechanic. He wheeled his way to his family, where two tiny girls in dresses kissed his cheeks before getting distracted by the dog. He looked exactly like his dad, who wore a suit, except he had his mom's fair skin. They bent over and hugged and proceeded quickly onto the crying part.

Overall, there was just a lot of crying. And each of the students slept soundly for the first time in three days that night in Ireland.

* * *

Brittney was in a dark room. No, not really a room, more of just a space. Then it was a library. She looked around and saw a little girl with glasses running out the door. She followed her into the bathroom where she sat crying inside a urinal.

"Hello?" the girl asked, hearing Brittney enter.

"I'm sorry that those girls were mean to you."

"Why? I'm just a nerd, why do you care?"

"You're not a nerd, you're just smart. I think those girls are just jealous of you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Have you read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by chance?"

"Yeah, I love it!"

"Me too! A very smart girl gave it to me a while ago so I read it…. Also, your dad loves you. Even though he's gone he loves you. You should know that."

"My dad always used to call me his beautiful little Donna."

"Very fitting for a girl like you." Brittney said. The girl giggled and the bathroom disappeared and she was back into the dark space. Except this time there were two girls in the space with her. A short one and a tall larger one. Donna. Donna came up to her and smiled. There was something different about her. Her hoodie not as dirty, her hair a bit cleaner, her smile that Brittney seldom saw.

"Thank you, Brittney."

"I… I'm so sorry… I should have…"

"The past is the past. I forgive you. Now we can go."

"Go where?"

"Somewhere better."

"What about Kristin?" she asked, gesturing towards the short girl.

"She's waiting for someone. C'mon."


End file.
